Lose Our Minds Together
by Owl of Nevermore
Summary: "Be all poetic and lose our minds together." Well, that was the plan, until Ellie didn't turn into a runner and neither did Riley. Three weeks later, the girls are still alive hiding out, until two smugglers enter the mall on their own mission to reclaim what was stolen from them. Ellie/Riley, Joel/Tess.
1. Smugglers and Mallrats

**A/N**: This is the first fanfic I've written in too long. I've really missed it, so I'm back writing for The Last of Us again.

I doubt anyone is, but the few that might remember, are probably wondering "Didn't you have another story with this name?" Answer is, yes! I did. But since then I've had a chance to play Left Behind, and gotten to know more about Riley and the TLoU world in general. So, forget about that one, and I hope you enjoy this one.

I'm going to admit, yes there are possible pairings in this story. But there will be no smut at all. I don't write it, I don't enjoy it. If it turns up in a story I'm reading, I tend to skim over it. If that is a problem, I'm sorry and I'm sure there are many great stories on here that would be more suitable for you.

That little wall of text out the way, I hope you enjoy this story.

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**CHAPTER ONE**

**Smugglers and Mallrats **

The infected had claimed the lower floor. Riley's pistol was more a toy at this point. Ammo: none at all. Gone, to protect them from those things last week when they finally dared to retrieve their lost backpacks.

They were almost home free, when Riley wanted to make a detour to Fast Burger to get some food. Ellie wanted to back to Winston's tent. She was sure they had some food left over from the night they spent in the costume shop reading horror books. Food was important, sure, she knew that, but so was covering the mark that turned them both into ticking time bombs. Any second they could turn into one of those things. Riley's hand, Ellie's forearm. Two blemishes that changed them both forever.

"Come on, Ellie, it is just a couple of minutes out our way," said Riley, slipping her arms through the straps of her now mostly empty backpack. "You know Winston has enough canned food in there to last years. We can use these to carry more back."

"Alright," Ellie muttered, not so sure.

The infected presence was foreboding silent. Ellie and Riley had learned keeping quiet kept them away. Talk only when they had to, unless they were safe near the costume shop, or Winston's tent. They were careful to keep doors shut. Remain couched, and move slowly wherever they had to go, in the "infected" zones.

Everything went smoothly until Raja's Arcade. One of them had left the door open. They weren't gone that long. Had to be okay, right? No sightings in a week. Maybe the infected had gone off to another part of the mall. All the games stood there silent like relics of a lost time. Sad in its way. Someone had spent time making these games, and no one will ever see or play them again.

"Hear anything?" Riley whispered, slowly approaching the escalators. They no longer moved. As a safety precaution, they had switched the power back off.

"Nothing," Ellie replied.

No infected. Not near the carousel, into Fast Burger, while they filled their backpacks with cans of food, then through doors into the darker corridors… they stopped as if they had walked right into an invisible wall. A low moaning wail echoed down the corridor.

How had an infected gotten this far without them noticing? How long had it even been in there? Flashlights off. The girls made it half way down the shadowy frightening corridor. Both Riley and Ellie turned at the same time, realising they had forgotten to shut the doors behind them.

"Fuck! Ellie!" Riley groaned.

"Riley! Shit… behind us!" Ellie muttered.

Something had entered the corridor. Different to those runners. It was croaking. What happened next, everything was so fast, Ellie barely remembered it. They ran. Sounds of gunshots. More infected coming for them. Screaming. Slamming the doors shut behind them. Fists slamming against the door on the other side. Both of them frantically pulling the nearby boxes in front of the door. Ellie collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath, hoping the door would hold out. Riley pulled the bullet clip out of the pistol; empty.

"Empty," Riley told her.

"We are not going back in there again," said Ellie.

They had to hope the food they had held out until they turned. No ammo, no weapons, no source of food. Two backpacks of food could be enough if they rationed well. It had to.

Ellie lay on her stomach. Two of Winston's jackets draped over her for a blanket. The switchblade rested sheathed on the ground beside her. She pulled the sleeve of her shirt further down her hand. Knowing that infected bite was on her wrist made her paranoid. No one came this way who could see it. Riley didn't care. She had one of her own now. Easily hidden by a pair of gloves that the fingers could be cut off. Ellie had to wear long sleeve tops or jackets. Winston's jackets drowned her. The only thing that fit her was a shirt from a Nathan Drake costume. Could have been worse. She could have had to put on one of those vampire outfits.

She enjoyed laying on the floor reading a book behind the counter in the costume shop. A terrible book or a good book, either one suited her. Reading a good book meant she could lose herself in a new world far away from infected and an invisible ticking clock that would turn her into a mindless monster. On the other hand, a terrible book gave her something to laugh at and tell Riley just why it was so awful.

Riley rushed into the costume shop, shut the door behind her. In her haste, she forgot to lock it. She jumped over the counter. Crouched down.

"Shit! Riley… what is going on?" Ellie flung Winston's jackets off herself, with one hand grabbing hold of the switchblade in one hand, dropping the book down on the jackets with the other. For a horrible second, she thought infected had managed to get into the camp.

"Shh!" Riley hissed at her. "There are people in the mall."

"Fireflies?" Ellie whispered back.

Riley shook her head frantically. A wave of fear rippled over them, they heard the doors open.

"Unlocked," said a man. He had a slight accent. Something neither of the girls could quite place. "Only way through, unless you want to dig out that car out there?"

"Tempting," a woman replied. "But I'll pass."

"You sure this is the way?" the man replied.

"Maybe."

"You don't know, do you?"

"All I know is there is a couple of cars in here. If they work, we can pick up the fireflies' trail. Unless you want to give up, go home, forget all about our guns."

Ellie peaked over the counter.

Near the doors was a tall older looking man, black hair flecked with grey. Scruffy unkept beard. Visible wrinkles near the eyes. The woman definitely younger than him. Old enough to have known _the time before_. Ellie guessed she might have been older than herself or Riley when the cordyceps outbreak started. Brown hair partially tied up. A bandanna folded into a headband. Bruising around her eye.

The woman looked to the man, a slight smile on her lips. A teasing glance. The man rolled his eyes.

Ellie ducked, to stop them from seeing her.

They walked across the small shop towards the doors on the other side. Remaining crouched low, Ellie crept out from behind the counter, following them, making sure there was at least an aisle behind them. Neither of them expected to see anyone in the mall, since that solider who lived here died.

"Tess, how are we going to catch up with the fireflies?" said the man.

"Everyone knows the soldiers are driving them out, blowing them up or littering the streets with their corpses. The few fireflies left will go into hiding." The woman named Tess opened the doors. "They have our guns. That we know. If they need guns, they plan to use them. They are going to leave the QZ. If we get ahead of them, they will out run the military and run right into us."

Ellie moved to the end of the last aisle, watched them both walk out the door. She crept over to the door, looked out. Almost giving herself away, she held her hands over her mouth. Riley appeared beside her to watch the two smugglers. Tess and the man had their backs to them, looking down at the cars below.

"We ain't getting far in those," said the man.

"They could still run alright."

"Without any windows? We won't get nowhere in them. Even if we get military uniforms, they don't drive around in windowless cars."

"I know, Joel. Didn't the military use this place for rations storage, before the infected slipped through? There would be trucks or even cars in the loading bay."

"Alright," Joel replied. "We can look."

Ellie looked to Riley.

To get to the loading bay, they would have to go through that sealed off corridor with the infected.

Ellie hurried out the doors. "Don't…" was all she managed to get out.

Tess and Joel pointed a pistol at her. Ellie raised her hands to show she was unarmed. She cast a glance at her wrist to make sure the shirt hadn't rolled down. Still concealed. Riley ran out after her, pointing her gun at the two smugglers. The clip was empty, but they didn't need to know that. Her options were limited if they called her bluff.

Joel's tense posture softened at the sight of the two girls. Not enough to make him lower his gun, but still enough for him to think twice before shooting. He figured they were just a couple of kids who ran away from the orphanage. Even kids sent out by their parents to scavenge supplies from the forbidden parts of the QZ wouldn't be out this early in the morning.

"Put the gun down," Tess ordered.

"You first," Riley replied, standing her ground.

Joel lowered his gun, slipped the pistol back in the holster on his belt. He looked to Tess do the same. Still weary, Tess lowered her gun, but she did not put it away. Riley's hands fell to her waist.

"What were you trying to tell us?" Tess asked.

"Don't go to the loading bay," said Ellie. She pointed to the door they had locked. "There are infected in there. We had to block off the door."

"We can handle it," Joel muttered.

"Are you looking for the firefly hideout?" Riley asked.

"In a way," Tess replied. She guessed they had heard the entire conversation.

Riley tapped Ellie on the shoulder. "Could I have a word?"

Ellie nodded.

The girls walked away from the two smugglers. Huddled closer, whispered to each other.

"Riley, you can't go back to the fireflies. Are you forgetting our problem? If the soldiers don't kill us first, the fireflies will shoot us on sight."

"Girl, I know what I'm doing. All the fireflies will be gone by now. The last of them will have left the QZ by now. I'm not going to take them there for nothing. If we plan to live here until we turn, everything will be easier if all those infected are dead."

"Alright. But we won't tell them about us."

While this conversation was going on, Tess and Joel glanced at the kids.

"How do you wanna play this?" said Joel, in a quieter tone.

"I honestly don't know," Tess replied. "They are just kids. Shooting them isn't right. We have done some pretty shitty things, but killing kids…"

"What if they are playing us?"

"Nah. The girl said firefly hideout, not us."

Ellie and Riley returned, having come to an agreement.

Riley put their cards on the table, so to speak. "I can take you right to the firefly hideout, and in return… we want your help killing the infected in this place."

"Alright," said Tess. "What if the fireflies are gone with our guns?"

"If they are, I can tell you where they are going, and mark off everywhere on a map they will probably make camp along the way."

Joel glanced from Ellie to Riley. "If we kill all the infected, what do you get out of it?"

"We just want to live here," said Ellie. Lowering her voice, she muttered, "For as long as we can."

Riley and Ellie had to go back to their camp to get their backpacks. They returned to find Tess looking down at the floor below. Gun raised—not pointed at anyone. She held it up, so it was ready to shoot if needed. Joel had gone to the other side of the balcony, looking at the floor below at a different angle. He seemed to be pointing at something.

"What is he doing?" Ellie asked.

"Looking to see if there are any infected down there," Tess replied.

"Are there?"

"Might be," Tess replied.

Joel met with them near the locked doors. "Might be some down there."

Tess turned to the girls. "What are your names."

"I'm Ellie."

"Riley."

Tess gestured to herself. "Tess." Then to Joel. "Joel."

Joel nodded at the mention of his name.

"What weapons do you have on you?" said Tess.

Ellie opened her hand flat to reveal the sheathed switchblade she had concealed in her fist.

Riley glanced towards the gun in her hand. "But I'm out of ammo."

"Alright, Ellie, you stay on Joel's heels. Riley, you stick close to me, until we can pick up some ammo. Surprising how many of these things are armed when they turn."


	2. Mastery of the Molotov

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has read (and reviewed) this. It means a lot to me, thank you.

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**CHAPTER TWO**

**Mastery of the Molotov**

Joel opened the door slowly, peering in. His posture tense, still. Eyes squinting, as if in a trance. Still holding the pistol in his hand, he extended one finger, then two, then three. Remained at three. Ellie wondered what that could mean. Wait three seconds then run? Three infected?

Barely two steps in the corridor, they saw it. A runner further down. Joel moved slowly towards it, grabbed it from behind, his arm tight across its throat. The runner gasped for breath, arms flailing, trying to scratch the much stronger man choking the life out of it. Its arms fell limply. Joel set the dead runner down on the ground. The group moved down the corridor to some stairs. Nothing. They moved down as quietly as they could, until they reached half way. Joel gestured for them to go back up. A runner was at the bottom, stumbling around. It hadn't seen them yet. Joel waited, watching its movements. The runner stopped, grasping its head in its hands, wailing as if in pain. Descending three steps, then stopping when it looked like it might move, he continued this pattern until he was right behind it. Joel killed the runner with the same method of suffocation as he had done the first.

Tess followed down the stairs, hid behind a tall crate. The girls followed after her. Riley admired that in both of them. They weren't afraid all. First time she faced and killed an infected she didn't know if she wanted to throw up, shit her pants or both. Luckily her pants survived that day, and she hadn't eaten recent enough to throw up.

A rumbling croak travelled down the corridor.

Tess and Joel exchanged a glance that implied _"Shit!"_

Joel slipped off his rucksack, rummaged around the few supplies he had picked up along the way over hear. No shivs. A roll of duct tape, but nothing sharp enough to improvise. Shooting a gun would be like sending out a call; fresh meat, come kill us. The odds didn't look good. Two kids that could probably count on one hand how many infected they had killed. Joel had less ammo than he let on. Supplies were already running low when they caught up with Robert. Three bullets were not enough to take out a swarm of infected.

Rumours had circled for a while amongst the QZ's smugglers and general lowlives that people from Outside were trying to sneak in, and the easiest way was through Liberty Gardens. Under patrolled – now not at all, since the only solider on patrol died. Somewhere in Connecticut the people had rebelled, fought back against the military and won. People not so willing to live under mob rules came to Boston. Only to turn before they could even get properly into the zone. Even if they made it, chances they would be shot on sight.

Tess grabbed a shiv from her rucksack. She took point on this one. Moved slowly down the corridor. Carefully grabbed a bottle from the ground just in case. Rounded the corner.

The clicker moved stiff limbed into the office ahead. So filled with fungus, it was not far off a bloater. Or dying. The cordyceps was an enigma in that way. Some people lingered on for well over a decade as these things. Some it killed, rapidly burst out of their human form spreading along the walls, floors, sent spores into the air. Ready to infect any unsuspecting human. Never ending cycle of pain and suffering.

Tess moved down the corridor towards it while its back was turned. Grabbed it and plunged the shiv into its neck. Discarded the body on the ground like rubbish.

Thinking ahead, she moved to the next room with the circuit breakers. Clear. Further down the corridor to the doors. She closed them to prevent any other infected from getting to them. She returned to Joel and the girls. As much as they tried to put on a brave face, she could see they were both terrified.

"All clear," said Tess.

"Look for stuff we can use," Joel told everyone.

Ellie wandered down the corridor to the office. She just wanted to sit down somewhere quiet, and catch her breath. Not so long ago she was curled up with a book, now she felt so terrified every breath might be her last. She sat herself down on the floor, back against the wall, knees pulled up under her chin. Riley sat down beside her.

"What do you make of these two?" Riley whispered.

"I don't know. They seem okay, I guess," Ellie replied. "Did Marlene say anything about them?"

"Nothing. I've never heard their names mentioned. If they are something to do with the fireflies, no one ever said that in front of me."

Ellie rested her head on Riley's shoulder. They never did talk about what happened. That kiss. A moment where the cordyceps didn't exist, the fireflies weren't trying to snatch Riley away, when even that stupid orphanage didn't even exist. All that really mattered was two girls, music all around them, and one tender kiss that said everything neither one of them were brave enough to say.

Joel wondered for a moment if flipping the power back on was the best move. He stared at the circuit breaker box, considering just flipping it on then dealing with the consequences. They would lose any element of surprise, but there had to be music somewhere that could lure the infected to one place.

He glanced at Tess, watching her walk into the small darkened room. Only source of light was both their flashlights aimed at the circuit breaker.

"We won't get far with them," Joel told her.

"I know, but what choice have we got? Fucking Robert. He had to sell them."

"If we are going to do this, we need something to take out a lot of them in one go. Something big."

"I think I got an idea. It is stupid, but right up our alley."

Tess walked into the office, sat on the desk. She removed the flashlight from the strap of her rucksack, set it down on the old wooden desk top, pointed it up at the ceiling to give them some light. Joel lingered off to the side, leaning his back against the wall, staring at the ground. He couldn't bear to look at Ellie. She was so young. A little head strong that much he could tell. A reminder of what he lost.

"You both know this place better than we do," said Tess. "Is there any liquor around here?"

"Loads," Riley replied. "The guy that used to patrol here, he would sell rides on his horse to kids for a bottle of whiskey. Even the soldiers would send him what they could find from rations as a payoff for patrolling this place on his own. Should be some in here."

The girls spread out, looking through draws, anywhere bottles of booze could be hidden. Joel took a different approach; cloth. He let out a short chuckle at the thought of that being a necessity. Necessities used to be keys, phones, cash. Now people kept clothes until they fell off, then kept them for bits of cloth they could rip off to craft weapons.

Teaching two kids to make molotovs felt wrong on a moral level—not that either of them had many of those left. Heck, there wasn't much either Tess or Joel wouldn't do it meant earning enough ration cards to get by. Neither one of them were exactly legal in the QZ. The booze was a good haul. Seven molotovs. Three each between the kids, one Joel kept for himself.

"We have to be smart about this," Tess instructed. "We get you two out of their reach, then we lure them out. Don't hesitate, just throw one of those into the thick of them, got it?"

The girls nodded.

Ellie looked to Riley. She had this bubbling fear in the pit of her stomach. Killing infected like this… sure, she had killed some before, but she had to. They were swarming after them, in the heat of the moment, killing them was the only way.

Riley reassuringly held her hand, gave it a squeeze. "We can do this."

Down the hall, through the doors. No infected, yet. So far, so good. Tess remained at the doors. Joel moved across the food court, stopped at an old store kiosk. Probably used to sell perfume or little bits of plastic crap that no one really needed. A perfect place for the girls to stay out of reach.

Joel knitted his fingers together. "Up here."

Riley raised her foot, rested it on his hands. Hands on his shoulders. He raised her up, so she could climb up onto the little kiosk roof. She could see right over to Fast Burger from there. Looked like there might be an infected in there. Ellie climbed up after her.

"Stay up there, no matter what," Joel told them. "Don't wait. Throw them into the thick of them clickers. Leave the rest to us."

"Okay," Ellie muttered.

A gun shot rang out, a bullet shot into the air near those doors. Ellie saw Joel run back towards Tess, before the infected swarmed out from every corner or former store front. She panicked. She couldn't do it. What if those things were still people? Just burn them alive?

Riley on the other hand faced no such dilemma. She knew they were not human any more. Just a host body living on instinct to kill, feed or die. She hurled a bottle at a clicker coming down the escalators. It flailed, screeched, stumbled in flame, bumped into more infected. Spread the flame, that was dying out. Ellie plucked up the courage to throw a molotov, let it spread through them. Maybe they couldn't take out them all, but they could thin the herd for Tess and Joel. Gunshots joined the infected screams.

"Cover us!" Tess shouted.

Tess run by the kiosk, grabbed a box of ammo some of the infected dropped. Joel ran after her, holding a pipe he had picked up somewhere. His gun was out of ammo. A runner came after him, roaring. Joel turned, smashed the pipe into the side of the runner's head, knocked it to the floor, then stamped in its head for good measure. More were coming.

"Tess, hurry up," Joel yelled.

Ellie threw a molotov at the runners. It missed just short of the three runners charging towards them, but the explosion of flames didn't deter them. They ran straight through it, igniting themselves, flailed to the ground burning alive. In case that wasn't enough, Ellie threw her last molotov at them, hitting them this time. As the last runner died, so did the sounds of swarming infected.

"Shit! That was intense!" said Ellie. Her heart beat so fast with a mix of adrenaline and fear, that she feared it might explode out of her chest.

Riley climbed down from the kiosk. Waited for Ellie to follow, in case she needed a hand. "Is that all of them?"

"Nah," Joel replied. "Four clickers by my count, including the one back there. Some of these have been around a while. There are more out there than what you know of."

Tess came over, handed Joel his gun back. "Filled yours up."

Joel nodded, then holstered the gun.

"I found some extra, you should take it," said Tess, offering Riley a box of ammo.

Only five bullets, but they were very much needed. Three guns with ammo was better than two.

"Crazy how some of them have bullets or supplies," Ellie muttered.

"They were people too, trying to survive against those things," Tess muttered. "Poor bastards probably thought these would save them when the time came. Or end it quickly."

"Where are the worst of them?" Joel asked.

"This way," said Riley, heading towards the escalators.


	3. Military Masquerade

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has read this little story of mine, if you comment or not. That really means a lot to me.

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**CHAPTER THREE**

**Military Masquerade**

They made their way through the mall; moving and shooting. A shiv to the neck of a clicker here, a molotov in the middle of a swarm of runners there.

The last of the clickers died out before they got close to the clothes warehouse. They had collected enough ammo to fight any infected survivors with full force, if they had to. There couldn't be that many runners out there now.

Thinking it probably be best to sit, eat a bite of food or two. Drink a little of the water bottles they had picked up in the way. There were plenty of old clothes around from the reject bins to make beds for the night.

Tess let out a laugh. "Funny how these were worthless back then." She pulled out a perfectly good brown jacket, that had a tiny hole near the shoulder where the stitching was faulty. The lining still pretty good, even after being left to rot for nearly two decades. She checked the label. "Oh, shit, this is designer. I could never afford one of these."

"Take it," Joel insisted. "I doubt no one is around to mind."

"Nah," Tess replied. "Haul it around in my backpack, taking up room for supplies. Probably won't get to wear it until winter."

"How is it different from any other jacket?" Ellie asked.

"People used to make clothes, that were a cut above the rest," Tess explained. "Got some famous designer's name on it. Plastered all over magazines, made people want it. Only the rich could afford them. The poor would starve or get into debt to buy them."

"That's stupid," Ellie muttered.

"Yeah. It was." Tess threw the jacket it back in the bin.

Neither Tess or Joel could sleep. They did get into a little of a pissing contest on who would get watch duty, smashing a mannequin or two. The whole thing got a little pointless, since they were equally matched against something mostly made of plastic and foam. Both girls were asleep, fed by rationing standards and had water to drink.

Joel sat on a wooden box. The manifesto stuck on the side indicated it was part of a shipment of t-shirts. They were wasting time. If they didn't have to look out for the kids, they would have passed through the loading bay and on the trail of the fireflies by now.

He scooted over to allow Tess to sit down beside him.

"So, I've been thinking," said Tess. "No one comes here. Not even the military any more. Everything left here. We could go for the big time."

"No. Suicide mission," Joel dismissed.

"When we didn't know where to even start collecting everything on the list. We gather everything here ourselves, drive it out to Colorado. We get the pay off. Cut out the middle man."

"Still too high of a risk. We should take it easy for a while. Dealing with Robert made too much noise, caught the attention of the military. Even if we sold the guns to them, too many eyes will be watching."

"We will be fine," Tess dismissed. "If we do the Colorado job, the things we could trade for could make loads of cards on the black market… we could take it easy for months. See us right through the winter. Maybe even have enough leftover for ourselves or make big profit selling to the military—remember all the ration cards we got off that deal?" Tess moved her hand across the edge of the box, picked at the corner of the manifesto.

Arguing her down would be a waste of time. Joel would get some good points across, only to get brushed off and Tess would do whatever she liked. Fuck the consequences. "Alright, I'll bite. This deal, what are we talking?"

"Word has it, they have pills, medicines… Joel, they have enough to trade it away. There whole settlement has good shelter, medicines, guns, ammo."

"Then what are they wanting?"

"Food."

"Seriously?" Teasingly, Joel added, "Well, we got loads of that laying around."

"Around the QZ, I know, not possible. But here… Joel, we could do it. This place is completely off limits to civilians. Even the military ignore the place. All these infected had to come from somewhere. Some are freshly turned."

"We should focus on the guns. Colorado is a fool's dream. Even if we find enough food, we got to haul it across the country to make the deal. Then get the payment back here. Getting out the zone is one thing, but smuggling in a truck full of supplies. Storing it. I ain't making the mistake of letting someone fence it again."

"Alright, I see your point."

"Wow. You really giving up? Not going to argue?"

"I'm not going to argue. You are right. Colorado is just a smuggler's dream. The settlement might not even be around anymore." Easing herself off the box, Tess stood. She stretched her arms. Suppressed a yawn. "I think I am going to scout ahead."

On the way out of the warehouse, Tess grabbed her rucksack just in case. She slipped under the shutters. The cart held firm keeping it open. Good workman ship, that something over twenty years old hadn't rusted yet. Tess slipped her arms through the straps of her rucksack. Made her way to the door—the lock was shot out. That saved time. Tess froze at the sound of a bottle breaking behind her. She spun around, pointing her gun at an alarmed Ellie.

"Sorry!" Ellie muttered, stepping away from the shards of broken glass at her feet. She looked different. The olive-green shirt from before discarded on the floor. She wore a black long sleeve shirt instead. A pink t-shirt draped over her backpack.

Tess relaxed her posture. Lowered the gun, returned it to the holster on her belt. "What are you up to?"

"Just getting changed," Ellie muttered. "My shirt was ripped…"

She kicked the olive green shirt away from her, scraping her shoe from the dirty ground onto the cloth, pushing it right against the wall. If the shirt wasn't ripped before, it was certainly unwearable now. Covered in grime, oil, questionable stains on the ground.

"Where are you going?" Ellie asked. She snatched the t-shirt from her backpack. Pulled the shirt over her head, slipped her arms through the sleeves. Rubbed her hands across the fabric to smooth out any wrinkles.

"Scouting ahead."

"Could I come with you?"

The first word that popped into Tess's mind was a firm "_no."_ Sneaking around with some kid that just barely had the guts to throw a molotov at infected would be like stumbling around in a room of glass in the dark. A thought did occur to her that the question was a simple pleasantry that this point. Even if Tess told her no, and watched her return to the warehouse, the kid would still follow her.

"Alright," said Tess, giving in. "Just stay quiet, and stick close."

She consoled herself with the thought they probably wouldn't cross paths with any infected, since a lot of them were charred rotting stains on the other side of the mall. Through doors, corridors, checking doors, there were no problems. Ellie did as she was told, kept close, tried really hard not to break anything or knock anything over. Nothing really to report, until they reached the loading bay.

Sounds of voices ahead stopped Tess in her tracks. She held out her arm, preventing Ellie from taking another step forward. Tess flicked her flashlight off. Walked slowly to the open doors ahead. Three trucks scattered across the bay. Most of them their cargo open and strewn around the room. This was normal. Expected. When the cordyceps hit, the whole world came to a standstill. People rushed out to grab anything they might need to survive. An abandoned warehouse or loading bay looked tempting.

Tess moved closer to the noise. A truck obscured her view of the people—thre by her count, judging by the difference in their individual voices. One woman, one man, the last she couldn't be sure judging by their voice alone. She stopped behind a pile of boxes. Some of them had the FEDRA mark. This shipment must have been checked for anyone trying to smuggle themselves in the QZ in a rations shipment. Not the first or last time that happened. Every once in a while, the FEDRA claimed to be checking shipments for infected, when they really wanted to skim a few rations off the top. Keep some of the good stuff for themselves. The irony. Old clothes worn until rags, military or FEDRA uniforms; they wore different clothes but they were very much the same. All corrupt as they come, doing just about anything to survive.

Tess leaned closer to Ellie. Into the young girl's ear, she whispered, "Go back. Get Joel and Riley."

Ellie turned away to move—Tess stopped her, holding onto her backpack.

Something stirred behind the boxes that created a wall between them and the military clad people on the other side. Tess listened for a few moments. Sounded like they were unpacking something. No immediate danger to them.

"Go," Tess whispered, letting go of Ellie's backpack.

Ellie left as quickly and as stealthily as she could. Making her way back to the warehouse they had used as their camp of sorts. Everything was not how she left it. While Tess and Ellie had gone off to scout ahead, Joel and Riley had faced a problematic situation of their own.

Joel stared at the cracked watch on his wrist. He did it for comfort, or to distract himself when sleep wasn't an option. Sleep… what a great gift. Awake he was a husk of a man, surviving day to day, doing just about anything to get by. Asleep, the watch ticked, and the outbreak never happened.

He could sit on the couch eating pizza, playing video games with Tommy, while Sarah "delighted" them with her terrible music. Or talked on about that Dawn of the Wolf she was obsessed with. Laugh, joke, make good memories. Get on Tommy's case not to drink too much, so his work-shy ass won't spend the morning in bed, then the afternoon bitching about having a hangover. Teasing Sarah about liking boys at school, while mentally planning to bust their kneecaps if they so much as stand within arm's reach of his Baby Girl.

"Hey," said Riley. Her voice was not calm like she was sharing pleasant greetings to shoot the breeze. She spoke as if she was trying to get his attention.

Joel snapped out of his happy day dream of better times. Blinked profusely, allowing him to perceive the grim present clinging to the ghosts of the past.

Riley held her backpack, her gloved hand extended reaching for his shoulder in case she had to touch him to snap him out of his trance. "Someone is coming."

Out of instinct, Joel looked to the shutters where Ellie and Tess had gone, expecting to see them emerge and divulge their findings.

"Um.. no," said Riley. She pointed toward a door they had not gone through yet, at least Joel was aware of.

"Over here," Joel muttered. He rushed over to the shutters. "Come on…"

Riley slipped under the shutters, held them up. The metal doors were so heavy, she feared for one horrible second that she might drop it and hurt herself or Joel, or give away their location. Putting all her strength into it, she lifted it an inch higher. Joel kicked the trolley away, slipped under. He bore the weight of the door.

"Step back," he told her.

Joel set the door down carefully. Listened for any movement on the other side.

He could only hear male voices, but there were more people in that warehouse.

"Keep looking," said one of the men.

Another replied, "You sure it was two people?"

"Yeah. A man and a woman. I know they came this way. The place is littered with freshly killed infected."

"What about here?"

Joel backed away from the shutters. His options were limited. He only had a pistol, with not that much ammo. Should a shootout happen, he could take out one, maybe two. The enemy had the advantage. Someone could just shoot him in the arm, or get a lucky shot and take him out. Riley could shoot, or so she said.

Riley followed Joel's example of backing away. She looked all around the room for some kind of weapon to find with. A 2x4, a hatchet… heck, she would even settle for a lead pipe about now. Only bottles littered the ground. Hurling one in their face wouldn't do any good.

That was when Ellie found them.

She gestured for them to follow her. They had no choice but to run as fast as their legs could carry them. Joel skirted to a halt in the loading bay. He heard the voices of the three military men. He ducked behind a row of crates. Tess looked at him, from behind another pile of boxes five feet away from his own hiding place. Neither of them could move, or they would be seen.

Ellie got an idea. She made her way around the trucks, over to the military soldiers' car. Reached up, carefully opened the door, climbed inside. All of the windows were blacked out, preventing the three soldiers from seeing the fourteen year old girl sat on the black leather back seat on their car. She climbed into the front. Slammed her hand on the horn, beeping it loudly over and over.

All three of the soldiers practically crapped themselves. Two ran toward the crates concealing Tess and Joel, were pulled out of sight.

The passenger side door swung open. A man reached over grabbed Ellie's legs.

"Get the fuck off me!" Ellie shouted, kicking him in the shoulder. She grabbed her switch blade from her pocket, unsheathed the blade. She slashed at him, frantically to get him away from her. One hand grabbing hold of the steering wheel for dear life.

The soldier groaned, stumbling back.

"She said, get the fuck off," Riley yelled. She threw another bottle at him to get his attention.

As soon as his back was turned, Ellie managed to slip out the driver's side of the car. Tess run towards them, grabbed him, stabbed him in the throat. Ellie's whole body shook against her will.

Riley put her arms around her, reassuringly stroked Ellie's auburn hair. Ellie clung to her, gasping for breath.

"Joel, put on one of their uniforms," said Tess. "We are getting out of here." She started unbuttoning her dirty pink shirt.

"What can we do?" said Riley, releasing Ellie from the safe tender embrace.

"Get in the back, and stay out of sight," Joel instructed.

Joel pulled the corpses into the truck he assumed all the boxes came from. Stripped off the military uniform from one of them. He left the boots on them. Taking their uniform was one thing, but stealing the boots of a dead man; he had to draw the line somewhere. Pick their pocket, take their clothes, but the boots were too far. The boots he had on were still good.

He turned around to throw a pair of pants to Tess, caught a glimpse of her half naked. Shirt partially stuffed in her rucksack, her boots beside it. A tatty old bra gave her some modesty. Bruises starting to fade on her stomach and chest probably from those "few good punches" Robert's men got in. She unzipped her jeans.

Happened to glance over her shoulder and saw Joel looking at her, then turn away.

"What? See something you like," Tess muttered teasingly.

He held out the pants. His arm rigid. "You couldn't go over there?" He pointed towards the boxes they had previously hidden behind.

"Ha! Come on, Joel, why so uptight? We have seen each other naked before."

"Not in front of two kids."

Neither Ellie or Riley was there to see them. They were both sat in the back seat of the car, telling each other very punny jokes from No Pun Intended, giggling away as if the troubles of their time never existed.

"Alright," said Tess, snatching the dark blue pants he offered her. She scooped up her discarded clothes and rucksack. Carried them to the pile of boxes a few feet away, went behind them to dress.

Joel threw a blue shirt after her. Lastly, he removed the gloves and vest from the female soldier. They were a little more Tess's size. He set them down before collecting together a uniform for himself. Carried them behind the crates. He handed over the last pieces of Tess's uniform.

They both got dressed. Joel grabbed a cap from one of the bodies, slipped it on his own head.

"You mind wanna remove your…" said Joel, pointing at the bandanna she wore as a headband.

"Oh, right… I forget it is there sometimes," she replied. Tess slipped the bandanna off her head, stuffed it in her backpack. "You remembered to keep your clothes, right? We don't have enough time to go looking for an abandoned clothing store. Buying them in the QZ will cost more cards than we can afford to lose."

"I remembered."

They made sure they had all the finishing touches. Flashlights, radios, scanners. Only thing wrong was their boots. Brown instead of the standard black.

"We just have to hope no one looks too carefully at our feet," Tess commented.

"I doubt anyone will. Wouldn't be the first time the military claimed someone was infected to kill and loot them."

"Fair point."

Joel took both of their rucksacks, opened the doors to the car. Slipped them on the floor near the back seats. "Look after these, and stay low when we get into the zone."

"Okay," said Ellie.

Joel closed the door, and just in time. The soldiers they had fled from walked into the loading bay. They looked at Tess and Joel, were instantly fooled by their disguise.

One wearing a helmet spoke to them; "There were sightings of two civilians entering the mall. Have you seen them?"

"Yes," Tess replied. "They were us. In civilian clothing, to do some reconnaissance. Walk amongst them, see who the smugglers are, cut off their supply at the source."

"Smart move," the solider replied. He turned around, ordered the others to stand down.

As soon as they were gone, Joel uttered a not nearly as sincere, "Smart move."

"What? You and I both know they would have spread out like ants on a puddle of jam looking for us. I had to say something to get rid of them."

"Instead, you gave them ideas to make business more difficult," Joel replied. He opened the car door, slipped into the driver's seat.

Tess, resting her hand on the door. "If they did, they would be flushed out and their throats slit in two seconds if they even got close to the black market. We flush out a few military rats, and get them off our back."

She shut the door. Walked over to the shutters, opened them to allow Joel to drive out the bay onto the yard beyond. Shut the shutters. Tess climbed into the passenger seat of the car.

Looking at the back seat, directly at Riley, Tess said, "You know where the Firefly hideout is?"

"I do," Riley replied.


	4. Over The Boston QZ

A/N: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing.

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

**Over The Boston QZ**

His hands rested on the steering wheel, eyes focused on the fork in the road ahead. The sign was bronze with rust now, mostly torn away from the mass explosion around the QZ in a desperate bid to wipe out some infected. He knew without having to ask; left to the Boston QZ, right to a life on the road surviving on pure luck. Driving away would be easy. Find some hole somewhere to live, just barely survive. The QZ had its troubles, but at least he had enough cards to eat just barely enough to survive. Tess was right, that mall could be a good earner for them. That stunt she pulled, would have less military presence, if they thought two soldiers had taken over after the last died.

"Something on your mind, dear?" said Tess.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"Maybe after we get the guns, we can go wherever. We have these uniforms. We can sneak back in whenever we want."

"We'll see."

Ah, the vacation on the horizon. In the years they dealt with the underbelly of the QZ, Tess had talked about many vacations. Just as they sold the last product, Tess caught word of some new shipment they could reinvest their cards into, and score bigger next time. Their ration cards were never really their own. Hey, at least they weren't infected yet.

Left it is.

As they moved closer to the gates to the zone, Joel looked into the back at the two girls. "Pull that blanket over yourselves, and don't move or talk."

Riley pulled a thick grey blanket up and over them both. They both pulled their knees up under their chin, to make them look like some supply bundle under the blanket. Placed their backpacks either side of them both to even out the shape under the blanket. Ellie held out her hand, extending her pinky finger. Riley looked at her and smiled, hooking her own pinky around Ellie's.

"Together?" Ellie whispered.

"Together," Riley whispered back.

Fear rippled over them, as the cars stopped.

They knew what was coming if they were discovered. On your knees. Hands on the back of your head. Scanner to the back of the neck. INFECTED in big red letters. A bullet to the head. Over.

They had survived three weeks. The military school was always hazy on when people actually turned. They were taught turned or not, infected don't deserve to live.

Ellie knew she wanted to live as long as she could with Riley.

Riley knew she wanted to live as long as she could to be with Ellie.

Together. In the mall. Safe. Where no one would go, save for two smugglers wanting to reclaim stolen guns.

The girls were so afraid, each of their own breaths were amplified like an explosion in a canon. They heard nothing of what was going on the other side of the blanket. Tess must have talked their way out of it again, fooling the soldiers at the gates. The door did not open.

Then the car started moving. Loud metal scraping across the ground—the gates must be opening. What were they going to do? Let them in the zone then check them in front of anyone watching? Make an example of them? The two smugglers in disguise, and the infected girls.

The car didn't stop.

They kept driving.

No car doors opening.

From time to time, the car slowed down but it never actually stopped. Each second stretched on an hour. How long were they in the back of that car? Hours? Minutes? Seconds?

"It is safe to come out now," said Tess. "Joel, could you?"

Ellie lowered the blanket from over her head. Joel had his hands on the steering wheel. Tess reached around the chair to the rucksacks on the floor, blind searching for something. Presumably the bandanna peeking out from the rucksack near Ellie's foot. She snaked the black and white cloth out, and placed it in Tess's hand. Using the rear view mirror, Tess watched her own reflection as she folded it back into shape, tied her bandanna back into its correct place on her head. Her hands returned to the steering wheel.

"Much better," Tess muttered.

"Where are we going to leave this, Tess?" Joel asked.

"We are going to have to store it in the lockup. Should be empty after selling our last shipment."

Tess steered the car into an empty alleyway adorned with garbage, graffiti adorned dumpsters, bits of furniture destroyed beyond any recognition. Whatever it used to be was anyone's guess. The car came to a stop before a paint chipped garage door. Joel got out, opened the door, allowing them to drive in. The kids were instructed to stay in the car, while Tess and Joel changed out of the uniforms. Probably for the best to leave the blue military uniform in the trunk. Everyone donned their backpack or rucksack. Tess locked the doors. To play it safe, she grabbed a roll of duct tape from her rucksack, tore off a piece, taped the key to the tire hidden under the car frame.

Riley turned to the closed garage doors. "Won't the military catch us, if we go walking through the streets?"

"If we walk _through_ the streets," Tess replied.

Joel climbed up on the hood of the car, then onto the roof. He reached up to the ceiling, patting through the hole in the concrete to the wooden panel above. He slowly stood, lifting it up to look up at the room above. Once upon a time it was probably the apartment of an artist. Easels, clay, long dried up and mouldy paint scattered across the room, from many people ransacking the place. Any tools were long gone.

"All clear," he confirmed.

He held the board, allowing Tess, then Ellie, then Riley to climb up. Tess held the board up above, allowing Joel to follow them. They walked through the trashed artist studio into the bedroom. Water pooled at random spots in the floor from the last heavy rainfall. The wardrobe pushed up to the foot of the bed, allowed them to climb up through the hole in the ceiling to the attic.

The attic was one long room, spanning at least four houses across. The walls dividing the attics were knocked through to create more space. Book cases, shelves, even displays from a supermarket spread across the walls, created a maze of aisles. Every shelf was filled with boxes or cans of food, or ammo, clothes, shoes, bullet proof vests, books, medicines. Some things they couldn't even see.

"Don't take anything," Joel instructed the girls.

They made their way through the long room.

"Why not?" Riley asked, looking at a can of potatoes on a shelf they passed by.

"These houses are known as a smuggler's den," Tess explained. "This is one of the few areas the military doesn't go. Eight years ago, maybe… Joel, how long ago was it?"

"Nine years," Joel corrected.

"Oh yeah," Tess replied. "Nine years ago, a lot of families this way got infected. Some of them tried dabbling with a cure, or just couldn't let go of their children. They actually thought even as a runner, they should still look after them and protect them. Did not end well. A few runners got out, bit others. Families started fighting, killing other people for murdering their infected child or uncle or father or whatever. The military stepped in, killed off the infected, scanned all survivors, moved them on to different areas. Stopped patrolling this area. They can't officially shut it off from the rest of the zone. Moving the wall would be too much of a headache. Much better for them to cast a blind eye to it."

"Don't stop them from scoping the place every once and a while for hidden infected," Joel muttered.

"Smugglers moved in using this row as storage," said Tess. "The garage down below is ours. We have a mutual agreement to stick to our own cargo. Touch anyone else's stuff, and they can take anything from anyone else."

"Considerin' what we have down there, we're not going to draw attention," Joel added.

"What if someone finds this place and takes something without knowing?" Ellie asked.

"No one comes here except people like us," Tess replied.

Joel stopped under a sky light. "Tess, do you see the ladder?"

"I think it is around here somewhere," she replied. "Spread out. We are looking for a wooden ladder—yes, this is the one thing you can touch."

They spread out through the attic storage, looking for a ladder. No sign of it anywhere. Maybe someone had taken it to cut up for firewood. That tended to happen if too many rungs were broken, someone would take it and either burn it to stay warm one night or fix it. Eventually someone would find a new one to replace it. If they were lucky it would be a barely rusted metal one that lasted a while before breaking.

Half hour of looking, they met back under the sky light empty handed.

"Now what do we do?" Riley asked.

"We can't go back. Curfew started hours ago," said Ellie.

"We are going to have to split up," said Joel.

"Alright," Tess agreed. "You take Ellie back to the apartment. Riley you come with me. Along the way, you can point out where in the zone the firefly hideout is."

Joel knitted his fingers together to offer Ellie a boost. She rested her foot on his hands. Her hands on his shoulders.

"Stand on my shoulders," he instructed her.

"Okay," Ellie muttered.

Ellie lifted her other foot up onto his shoulder. Tess reached over, placed her hands at Ellie's waist, giving her some sort of stability to lift the other foot up onto his shoulder without fear of falling. Joel reached his now free hands up and held her ankles tightly.

"Woah! Careful," she called out, as he straightened himself up.

Her extended hands reached the skylight clasp handle. Pushed the window open. She pulled herself up and out the window with Joel's help. After going through all that with Ellie, they saw a flaw in getting one of the adults up there. There is no way Tess could lift Joel like that.

"You are going to have to go up with her," said Joel.

Tess looked to Riley, then back at Joel. "You are right. Doesn't matter who sees where they are, as long as one of us knows."

"Hey guys," Ellie called down.

Everyone looked up through the small window at her.

"There is a ladder up here."

To show them, she dropped the ladder down for them to climb. Wooden. Old. The very ladder they wasted half hour looking for. Riley climbed up first. She stood beside Ellie, held her hand. They looked up at the blue night sky. Millions of stars flecked across it. A crescent moon shone down on them. No clouds to ruin this perfect vision. Neither one of them had really looked up at the sky before, night or otherwise. Below it, the whole zone was quiet. Candlelight in some windows across the city inside the walls. Most of the windows were dark. Some sealed off entirely by FEDRA.

Ellie wondered why some people were still awake. She imagined them reading together. Or parents building little sheet forts with their children. Maybe the parents were fixing clothes, while the children slept. Or creating a distraction with a candlelight to hide the fact that they were out after curfew, just like the two smugglers and the infected girls on the roof top.

Joel kicked the ladder down, making it a little easier for the next guy to pass through. He shut the skylight. They jumped over the few feet gap between the row of houses to the next. Made their way around the chimneys and rooftop windows. At the end, they reached a fire escape. At this point, they split up. Tess and Riley went further up. Joel and Ellie climbed in through the window.

All the rooms were empty of all furniture or supplies. Probably for new arrivals to the zone, or graduates from the schools who wanted to join the general population. That is how they got you. Housing was free, but it was down to you to work and earn the cards to furnish it. Even then, the place only ever got as comfortable as the military would allow you to afford. One-bedroom apartments could house as many as a family of ten before they were even considered for moving to a bigger place. Not that families could even get that big these days.

Joel opened the door, looked out then entered the hall.

"What were you two doing in the mall?" Joel asked. "Shouldn't you both be in school?"

"Riley ran away a while ago. She chose to fend for herself before they forced that decision on her," said Ellie. They headed down some stairs. "And I… well, my time to choose is not really that far away. We just want to stay together, so we decided to stay there."

"That only happens at sixteen. What are you, twelve?"

"Actually, I'm fourteen. Not that matters at all. I'm not going back. I'm not going to tell you why the mall."

"I don't give a shit why you want to go back."

"Good."

They remained in awkward silence through the next silent apartment, across the rooftops to the apartment block Joel called home. All the corridors they passed through, there was some muffled noise through the doors. Four down from Joel's apartment, there sounded like someone was having a party. He unlocked the door and let her in.

Not much, but at least he had a working kitchen, a cot to sleep on and a mostly working bathroom. Standard issue for a single middle-aged man with no intention of starting another family.

Joel grabbed the bottle of scotch on the counter, poured some into the glass Tess had left there earlier. Ellie looked over, curious to what the booze tasted like.

"Not happening kid," Joel told her. "I got a bottle of filtered rainwater in the fridge. You better not take anything else."

"I'm not even thirsty," Ellie dismissed.

Ten minutes later, she did give in and take the bottle.

She sat cross legged on the counter, sipping from the bottle. Her shoes kicked off on the floor near her backpack. Ellie looked out the window, wondering where Riley and Tess were now. Mostly she left Joel to his own devices, as he sorted out decent sleeping arrangements. He pulled the mattress off the cot, put that on the floor. There was the old sofa. Not all that uncomfortable to sleep on. He was so exhausted all the time, he could sleep on anything. There were sofa cushions that he managed to sneak away from the apartment on the floor below. FEDRA paraded them out into the streets to kill the infected ones in plain sight. While that was happening, he stole anything worth keeping. Would have gone to waste anyway. Destroyed for being tainted by spores. That was the "official" reason. Everyone knew it was a power play. In the spirit of _enjoy what you have, because we can just as easily take it away, and burn it while you watch. _

Riley hurried in through the door. Tess followed behind her, holding a card.

"This was stuck on your door, didn't you notice?" said Tess.

Joel looked over. "What?" He then focused back on laying out three sofa cushions on the cot frame.

"Tomorrow this whole block is getting a FEDRA infection check." Tess offered him the card, but he didn't take it. She set it down on the counter instead. Poured herself a glass of the scotch.

"Wait… an infected check?" said Riley. She looked to Ellie panic stricken, the look was returned.

Ellie slipped off the counter, hurried to Riley's side.

"We should get out of here," said Ellie.

"It will be fine," Tess said, dismissively. "An inconvenience, but fine. Hopefully we will be the first floor they check. Not many apartments occupied along this row. We will have to stash our rucksacks somewhere. We should have dropped them off in the tunnel."

"No, we have to get out of here tonight," Ellie argued.

"Why all the fuss?" Joel questioned.

Ellie looked to Riley. Those brown eyes gave nothing away. Maybe they would listen or understand?

Taking a risk, Ellie went for it. Rolled up her sleeve. "I'm infected."

Following Ellie's example, Riley removed her glove.

The candle burned out, allowing the silver light of the moon flood in through the window. A bight on Ellie's forearm, one on Riley's hand. Dark blemishes outlined in the moonlight.


	5. Just Watching Clouds

A/N: Thank you so much for all the views and reviews on this. It means so much to me. I know I say that nearly every time; I really do mean it.

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**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Just Watching Clouds**

"Jesus Christ," said Joel turning away. His whole life in the QZ flashed before his eyes. From the moment he parted ways with Tommy, to standing right here in an apartment looking at two infected girls.

Even beyond that.

Tomorrow's FEDRA scan would be his death. He could see it as if it were happening. Tess would have to spend the night, so he wasn't alone against two freshly turned runners. Even if the girls survived the night, it would still end the same. FEDRA would parade them all out, to the street. Line them up. Tess's block had their scan last week, but they would scan her again just because she was there.

They would scan Tess. Then Joel. Clear. Clear. Then one of the girls, maybe Ellie. INFECTED in big red letters. A bullet to the head. Another young kid shot down in cold blood by some military puppet telling himself he was just following orders to help him sleep at night. Then Riley. The same. Gone, just like that. He would find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. He would have to tell them over and over that he didn't know they were infected when he let them in their apartment. No one would believe him because no one knew they were there. Then he would have to explain why a military school runaway was spending the night with him. Riley was old enough for them not to care. Not Ellie. Wrists bound together behind his back by a spare piece of wire. Feet first in the back of a car. Tess pushed in after him. Both of them driven off to some warehouse in the military parts of the zone, told their crimes; abduction, harbouring a fugitive, hiding infected, possession of firearms. Two bullets. One to the head. One to the heart. If he was lucky, they would kill him first. He couldn't watch Tess die.

"What was this?" Joel growled at them. "Use us to get in the zone, and spread the infection as far as you can? Set us up as bait while you turn?"

"No! It isn't like that," Riley protested. "We just wanted to wait this out in the mall. That was the plan for the last three weeks…"

"Bullshit," Tess cut in. "Everyone turns in two days."

"It is three weeks," Ellie insisted. "Ask around. I left the school three weeks ago. We went straight to the mall to have one last night together."

"Marlene can confirm," said Riley. "I was due to leave the zone, to go to some place in Connecticut. The quarantine zone is on the verge of falling. The military is dying out. The people reached out to the fireflies for help. Ask her! She will tell you it is true. This is my dog tag. Take it as proof you know me. Tell her I gave it to you." Riley reached into her vest pocket, grabbed the dog tag. Held her hand out, offered it to them. The circular disk spun around dangling from the chain. The engraved words caught the light; RILEY ABEL 000129.

All this was a lot to take in. If they had time, they could just think it through. Time was not on their side. A FEDRA scanning was hours away, and the girls were ticking time bombs.

"What was the plan here?" Tess asked. "Saying we had never gone to that mall, never met you."

Ellie smoothed out her sleeve to hide the bite mark. "We were going to stay in the mall. Wait it out."

Riley set the dog tag down on the kitchen counter. "Killing ourselves wasn't an option. We want to spend every last second together that we can. We would have stayed there, until we turned." She pulled on her glove.

Tess turned to Joel. All this was too much even for her quick thinking mind. "Joel?"

"They want to wait it out, so will we," Joel decided. "Yesterday, I got enough rations to last a week. We take these two out the east tunnel, leave them in that diner with the food. Put the word about for everyone to stay away. After that week is up, we both go check on them. If they have haven't turned, we believe their story."

"Alright," Tess muttered. "We can drop off our backpacks on the way."

"Where is the east tunnel?" Ellie asked.

"Not far," Tess replied.

Everyone gathered their backpacks, made sure not to leave anything out the ordinary behind. They headed up to the roof, made their way across, following it around to the large building overlooking the checkpoint. The wrecked cars were still there from the firefly bombing. Windows jutted up through the rooftop, with little roofs of their own. This made their trek much easier.

Joel checked each of the windows they passed. He never could remember which one had the broken lock. Forth one across, he managed to open it. He beckoned for the others to climb through. He followed after them, climbing down on an old mahogany desk. It was mostly chipped, probably half eaten by woodworm. Despite that, it was sturdy enough. He shut the window. Followed Tess and the girls out the attic, through the door, and into the stairwell.

"Is this a smugglers tunnel?" Ellie asked.

"It is," Tess confirmed.

"We forgot the rations," Riley pointed out.

"I will drop them off tomorrow, after my check," Joel muttered. "Won't look right if they search my apartment, and find no food."

"How are you going to eat if we take your food?" said Ellie.

"I have plenty," said Tess.

"Still getting tokens from your admirers?" said Joel. He tried to make it sound as a teasing joke, but it came out a little jealous. No one really noticed.

As they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Tess stopped. "Both of you stay quiet. Leave all the talking to us. Joel, you stand back with the girls, in case this goes wrong. I'll deal with the rest. I think I have enough cards to make this go smoother."

They had to act cautiously. Joel and Tess had the reputation to make sure no one came after them. Only person cocky enough to screw them over or try to come after them was now dead.

They walked down the long hallway. So many doors sealed off by FEDRA. Ellie wondered why the military didn't just shut the building off all together like they did the mall. Or maybe they had, and they weren't _actually_ there right now. Each step more they took, the guilt started to weigh down on both Ellie and Riley. If they had have just stayed quiet, let Tess and Joel pass through without trying to warn them, none of this would be happening. They could certainly handle themselves against infected and soldiers. If Ellie and Riley had stayed in the costume shop, the two smugglers would not be risking a bullet to the back of the head, or having to give up their hard-earned ration cards or food for them when it could all be for nothing. For all they knew, the infection could catch up with them in the next week, and the next time they all meet ammo would have to be spent also.

A large room opened up at the end of the hall, reminding Ellie of the common room back in the military school. Joel stood back near the TV bureau covering the entrance to the tunnel. He shielded the two girls with his own body. He cast a glance to Ellie. Doing so damn near brought a tear to his eye. She was strong, so brave, so like… her. He turned away. He had to. If he so much as let himself care for her even a little and this all went wrong, that wound on his heart would blast open and never heal.

A man sat on the sofa, surprised to see them there. "Tess? Unlike you to be out at this time. Don't you two try to keep face value above board?"

"Otto, I need you to turn a blind eye," said Tess, approaching him. She reached into the pocket on the side of her rucksack, retrieved the ration cards she had with her. "And never tell anyone you saw us, or anything that happened tonight. Not even our own people. I also need you to put the word out that everyone stays clear of the east tunnel until I give the all clear. No going in from either direction. Twenty is the going rate, right?" She slipped away twenty cards from the wad.

"I don't know Tess… this is just… two kids? Shutting off the tunnel. This could draw too much attention, bring business to a halt. Fifty."

"Are you kidding me?" Fifty would clear her out. She would lose all of it. Her cut of the last deal. Otto was a good man. There was no reason before to not trust him. That aside, she had no choice but to pay him. Even if she walked away, he might tell someone. "Just take it." She deposited the wad of cards into his hand. "One word…"

"I won't say a word to anyone. Never saw you. Never saw anyone down the tunnel. Hey, didn't you hear that the military are onto that tunnel?"

"Good man," Tess replied.

Joel and Tess had to push the bureau out the way to allow them access to the tunnel. Joel jumped down first, to find the light. Making sure not to mention names, Tess made sure the girls followed, then jumped down after them. Light flooded the small dark room. They told the girls to wait near the wall, there Tess and Joel left their backpacks and guns on the work benches.

Joel stopped near the wall, knitted his fingers together. "Tess."

Tess rested her foot on his hand, with his help, climbed up. Then Ellie and Riley followed. Tess reached her hands down, so Joel could jump up and grab hold with both hands. He was much heavier than her, but nothing she couldn't handle. She heaved him up onto the ledge with them. He let go of her hands straight away. For a moment, he wondered how many times in one day they touched without actually touching. Offered her a boost here. She might rest her hands on his shoulder there. His face inches away from her even for a second. How many times did they touch without really touching?

Joel shook his head. He was thinking crazy thoughts. Open his heart a tiny bit, and all these feelings came flooding out like a crumpled mess.

They moved the board, climbed up to the derelict diner.

"Stick to this diner," Tess instructed. "There is a building across the yard. You can go there, but don't go down stairs." With that, she turned away.

"Hey," Ellie muttered, getting both Tess and Joel's attention. "I'm sorry we took all your food and cards. Take anything you want out the mall. Go to our tent, take anything you want there. Most of it belonged to Winston, he was a soldier. You could get good cards for some of it."

The smugglers left without another muttered word. The kids had seven days. Then they would believe everything. Neither one sad a word to each other along the trek back to the apartment. Joel was so exhausted he just barely had the energy to heave the mattress back on the cot before flopping face first on it.

"At least take your boots off," said Tess, who was in the process of taking off her pants. Her shoes were kicked off somewhere in the kitchen.

"Don't like how I sleep, go back to your own damn apartment," Joel retorted.

Tess climbed over him, spread herself on the empty half of the cot. "Cute. Now stop being a blanket hog. You keep your boots, I get all the blanket."

"Sleep on the sofa, you can spread out all you want."

"That rotten old thing? Not a chance."

There was not enough room for them both at all, but they made do. They lay backs pressed against each other. Barely covered in a thin ratty blanket that was almost threadbare. Completely impractical, but it worked. One of the many little routines they fell into since the day they met all those years ago on a dry summer's eve.

"Business as usual tomorrow," Joel muttered.

"Are you kidding? We are broke. Your cut will just barely cover the incentive funds to keep people obliging. We are going back to that mall, and recouping our losses. As we passed through, I peeped a hiking store. We could score five cards a pop on sturdy hiking boots easy. Did you see the toy store? People get generous if it can give their kid a piece of happiness."

"Alright. Are we using the car to smuggle them in?"

"Naturally. Joel… try not to kick me in the sleep."

"Only if you don't try to punch me in the head again."

They fell asleep not long after. Only to be rudely awoken just after sunrise. They were given a matter of minutes for Tess to get dressed, and for Joel to hurl the bottle of scotch out the window into the alley. All the FEDRA were in the building, herding people out of their apartments. The occupants forced out to stand in the hallways, while heavily armed FEDRA soldiers searched their homes for contraband, spores, any other signs of infected. Then down the stairs, out the door through the alley to the main street where the barricades were set up. All of them forced to stand in a line. Men, women, children.

"Too damn young.." Joel thought to himself, at the sight of a brown-haired little girl as young as four and an auburn haired little boy about seven or eight.

Both of the brother and sister pair were made to kneel with their hands behind their heads. Both completely terrified. This world was no place for kids at all.

Two soldiers just inside the barricade line, holding guns ready to dispose of the infected. One walked down the line, marking names off a list on a clipboard, reading them out as he passed by the person who belonged to the name; "George, John, Kimberly, Lauren, William, Kathrine, Wyatt, Natalie."

Wyatt and Natalie. The two young kids seeing horrors not even adults should see.

The soldier stopped. "Joel. And, who is this…"

One of the armed soldiers spoke up. "Tess. On his paperwork as an approved guest. He is on hers."

The soldier wrote her name down. Removed the black scanner from his pocket, moving down the line scanning each one of them. All clear. Manly pride was a thing of the past at moment like this. Many amongst the group wept with joy. The kids clung to their parents. They were safe, at least for a couple of weeks.

Once the all clear was announced, they were free to go. The two smugglers couldn't help but give a thought to the girls. Both infected. Both spent a fair portion of the day before and a good amount of the night before, and they had not passed the infection on.

They headed back up to the apartment, they had food to collect.

DAY 1;

Ellie awoke on the seating couch of a booth, feeling momentarily confused. She needed a few minutes to even remember where she was, what happened, and how she came to be sleeping in a diner. Slowly she sat up, looked to Riley who was fast asleep on the other side of the table. Her hand extended, dangling off the edge. They had fallen asleep the night before holding hands. Ellie rubbed her eyes. On the counter top was four boxes of food. One box was all filtered rain water in any random bottle or container with a lid. One container might actually be a pasta Tupperware box.

Riley yawned, stretching her arms. She sat up slowly. Blinked her eyes profusely, to adjust to the natural day light. They hadn't seen that in a while. Even in the walls of the military school, or in the firefly hideout, anywhere in the QZ always came with a film of "meh." She couldn't believe her eyes at first. This place was beautiful. Broken down, abandoned for a very long time, but it was far more wonderful than anything both girls had ever seen. No posters or pamphlets from FEDRA. No graffiti. Even out of the reach of that fucking woman reminding them over and over the rules of their caged lives.

"That really did happen last night," Riley muttered.

"Yeah," Ellie replied. She set the Tupperware box of water down on the table. There was more than enough for both of them.

She held a box of crackers in the other hand. She remembered them from her last military school. A kid name John arrived. He was so thin. Wouldn't eat. When they made him, he would make himself sick in the toilets. The cafeteria lady gave him one of these, then refused to give him any more food. He liked it, and asked for another a few hours later. Each meal she would give him only a cracker. He started to gain a healthy weight. She overheard one of the teachers talking about them. Some scientist in another QZ had invented them for civilians. High on calories. Two could fill up a grown man or woman. Didn't cost that many ration cards either. Good food on a budget. Knowing that Joel and probably Tess had to live on these made Ellie feel a little sad. This was the best he could afford, and they took it from him.

"What are you thinking?" Riley asked.

Ellie set the box of crackers down on the old table, turned it so the label so aptly called _Ration Crackers _faced Riley. "Just feeling guilty about these."

"They had these back in our old school," Riley muttered. She opened the box, pulled out a square shaped cracker the size of the palm of her hand.

"I don't remember eating them there."

"It was the year before you came. In winter, we ran out of food. Everything comes from this farm down east. Everyone there got infected. I don't know what happened, not even Winston new that much about it. We had to eat these all winter. Spring came around, and the food supply continued as normal. Sometimes I wondered if they just wanted to keep the good stuff for themselves, and fob us off with these. Wouldn't put if past them. Selfish fuckers eat well, while we live off crackers, breakfast, lunch and dinner."

"Looks like people actually in the zone aren't doing much better. This is pretty much all we have. There is a can of apple pieces in the bottom."

"Wow, they managed to score some of that? I wonder what they had to trade for that."

"You knew?"

"Ellie, I've been living with the Fireflies for months. They don't exactly have it easy."

Ellie took one of the crackers from the box. Following Riley's example, she only ate small bites. A terrible meal or not, she was grateful for it. Fresh ration crackers over nothing. They could have left Riley and Ellie to starve for a week. Just left them with water. Wrote them both off, figuring that they were probably going to turn any minute now.

Riley removed the lid from the Tupperware container, raised it to her mouth, sipping as if it were a bowl of soup. Clear, freshly filtered rainwater soup. Offered some to Ellie, who drank some, then clipped the lid back on.

"I'm thinking we should explore today. Check this place out," said Ellie.

"Only thing I want to do, is sit out there on the grass," said Riley, pointing out the window.

"Seriously?!" Ellie hadn't noticed that in the dark.

Barefoot she hurried out the door frame, stood on the grass. Dirt and real grass against her feet. Holymoly… she was Outside. Actually outside. Throwing her head back, she gulped back that clear fresh air.

"Riley… we did it. We left the QZ."

"We did girl. Not quite LA, but we'll take it."

Riley held her hand. They both had such a firm grip. Neither one wanted this to be some twisted dream, where they woke up in Winston's tent or in the costume shop. Have this whole thing be a tease. Showing them what they could have, then throw them back into the life of fear in the mall.

That morning on the grass yard, if it was their last, they could face their fate happily. Laying on the grass, giggling at all three of the joke books Ellie had in her backpack. Even the jokes they had heard many times before, they just sounded funnier Outside. Running around to see who could do the most laps around the yard. Smashing one of the windows of the abandoned cars, climbing inside pretending they were driving to somewhere faraway. Dancing off the roof of the car, singing off key. They barely even remembered the words to most of the songs, and made them up, then burst out laughing because it sounded so crazy. For lunch, they ate their ration cracker on the grass, sipping from the tupperare box.

"Riley, do you think happy ever afters are real? Like in books."

"Honestly? No. One way or another, something has to come along to ruin it." Riley lay back on the grass, looking up at the wispy white clouds floating along the clear blue sky. "But if this is all the time we have, we could live happily here for a while."

"I was actually thinking, maybe we could stay here. Instead of going back to the mall. We don't even know how long we have."

Riley rolled over onto her side, her back turned to Ellie. She couldn't look her in the eyes. "Yeah."

"I mean, we could turn tomorrow, next week, or even an hour from now. Being here is much better than the mall. Sure, we have less food, less stuff to do, but we have everything we have never had growing up."

"Mhm."

"Riley, you're not about to leave me again are you?"

"No, Ellie. I was just thinking… I don't think it is when we turn any more. More like if. When you told them, Tess said something that I can't get out of my head. Everyone turns in two days. We have lived three weeks with this. I think we might live."

"You mean, when this week is over and Tess and Joel come back, we will be still us?"

"Yeah. Ellie, we can go anywhere, do anything, as long as we stay away from scanners or don't let anyone see our scars."

"This is fucking awesome! But… are you going back to the fireflies?"

"No. They were going to send me away. I'm not walking out on you again."

"Actually, I've been thinking what we could do with our lives now. Sort of."

"Clue me in, girl."

"Tess and Joel took some pretty big risks for us. Even gave us their food. Just letting them take what they want from the mall isn't good enough. Maybe we could become smugglers too."

"Being a smuggler… yeah, I think we could do well with that."

"I know you wanted to be a firefly and all..."

"I wanted to be a firefly to make a difference. Getting scans every other week, getting pushed around by the military, or worse, being in the military was never for me. Being a smuggler isn't that much different. They are still bringing in stuff people really need. Taking risks no one else is brave enough to take. I see people like Tess or Joel, and realise being a smuggler isn't just about the profit. They say they were doing it for the guns and the information to find the firefly hideout, but they didn't have to sneak us here or give us their food. I showed Tess where it is on the way to that apartment. They could have lead us right into a military trap or shot us when our back was turned."

Ellie lay back on the grass, looked up at the wisps of clouds spreading across the sky.


End file.
